Happy Tuesday. Today, the Fed will gather for the first day of its two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, where it is widely expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points and provide color on what investors could expect at the central bank's final meeting of 2025 in December.
Before we get to Jerome Powell's big speech, we'll have to run through a wall of earnings, though. With over 1,000 earnings reports this week, including reports from megacaps, the markets have a lot to digest. Add Trump's Asia adventures (where hopes are running high that he will strike a deal with China, especially after the ink has dried on a Japan trade deal) and the government shutdown and that's a lot to juggle.
Tuesday Reading:.
That might be why U.S. stocks are taking a bit of a breather today. While the Nasdaq (+0.41%) and Dow (+0.38%) are higher thanks to megacap tech — and specifically, Microsoft's deal that cleared the way for OpenAI to convert itself into a for-profit entity — the broader market is mostly in the red.Over 59% of U.S. tickers are in the red per FinViz. The S&P 500 (+0.09%) is barely above water, while the Russell 2000 (-0.27%) is still staging a comeback from early losses.
Still, a win is a win. If the Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500, and Dow remain on their current course, they will notch a third consecutive day of record closes ahead of a stacked Wednesday of events and earnings.
-- Noah Weidner, Markets Reporter
